Stories from Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Cold, grey, windy weather with rain put a damper on last weekend's Fall Harvest Festival, sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce Merchant's Committee. Several vendors, displays and entertainers pulled out of the event toward the end of the week after seeing the weather reports, but about 1,000 people showed up to take advantage of the sales and activities that were available...

The Mountain Home Tigers JV Soccer Team was defeated 1-0 Wednesday on the road by Nampa, the team's first loss of the season. Both offensive and defense played a hard game holding the score during the first half to 0-0. During the second half Nampa took a shot on goal that skipped off goalie Thomas Guillan's fingers and made it into the corner of the net...

The Mountain Home Tigers JV football team improved to 3-2 on the season with last Wednesday's 28-6 win over the Bishop Kelly JV. After a scoreless first quarter, the Tigers got on the scoreboard in the second quarter on a four-yard run by Curtis Jackson. The PAT was blocked, but Mountain Home led 6-0, a lead they took into the locker room at halftime...

The Mountain Home Tigers competed at the Gary Ward Invitational Cross Country Meet in Nampa last Thursday. The Mountain Home girls came in seventh, the boys 12th at the meet held at Lakeview Park in Nampa. Haley Schaefer led the Mountain Home girls with a time of 21:20, which placed her 14th...

The Mountain Home Tigers battled to a tie and picked up a shutout win last week in conference boys soccer. Tigers 1 Kuna 1 Kuna scored on a penalty kick late in the game to force a 1-1 tie with Mountain Home last Monday at Kuna. Danny Snelgrow scored Mountain Home's goal on an assist by Logan Whitney...

The Mountain Home Tigers freshman football team bounced back from their loss to Columbia with a 42-22 win over previously unbeaten Bishop Kelly last Wednesday at Tiger Field in Mountain Home. The Tigers scored early and often, building up a 42-0 lead through three quarters. Bishop Kelly struck for 22 points in the fourth quarter to make it a 42-22 final...

The Mountain Home Lady Tigers saw their win streak snapped at four when they when they lost at Kuna last week, but returned to the win column with a win at home against Nampa. Kuna 3 Mtn. Home 1 The win streak snapped at four last Tuesday at Kuna when the Lady Kavemen handed Mountain Home a 3-1 loss in conference girls soccer...

Going into Friday night's game at Bishop Kelly, the Mountain Home Tigers had lost 10 straight times to the Knights of Bishop Kelly in football. For about 31 minutes it was anybody's ball game, but the Mountain Home Tigers dominated the last 17 minutes of the game to beat the Knights 49-21 and end the streak at 10...

John T. Davis, 84, of Hammett, died Monday, Oct. 06, 2008, at a Boise hospital. Arrangements are under the direction of Rost Funeral Home, McMurtrey Chapel in Mountain Home.

Jim Anderson, 66, of Grand View, died Oct. 1, 2008, at St. Alphonsus Regional Medical Center with his family by his side. Funeral Services were held Monday, Oct. 6, at the Knight Community Church in Grand View. Burial followed at Riverside Cemetery. Arrangements were under the direction of Rost Funeral Home, Mountain Home...

Evelyn Kay Puder, 69, of Twin Falls, died Saturday, Oct. 4, 2008, at a family home in Mountain Home following an illness. Cremation is under the direction of Rost Funeral Home, McMurtrey Chapel in Mountain Home. A memorial service will be held on Friday, Oct. 10, at 2 p.m. at the Parke's Magic Valley Funeral Home in Twin Falls...

Wallace "Wally" J. Pedrazzini, 82, of Mountain Home, died Sunday, Oct. 5, 2008, at his home. No services are planned at this time. Inurnment will be held at the Idaho Veteran's Cemetery in Boise at a later date. Cremation is under the direction of Rost Funeral Home, McMurtrey Chapel...

Peter Karl Dahlgren, Sr., 64, of Mountain Home, died Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2008, at a local hospital. A celebration of his life was held at Carl Miller Park on Friday, Oct. 3. Inurnment will be held at the Idaho Veterans Cemetery in Boise at a later date. Cremation was under the direction of Rost Funeral Home, McMurtrey Chapel...

Dear editor: I am appalled that the Elmore County Board of County Commissioners approved the Clear Springs Ranch Subdivision. This project will not benefit the surrounding community that is part of the aqua recharge area. All others in the area are required to have five-acre lots. And according to the preliminary plots map it clearly shows that less than 10 percent of the plots in Clear Springs are a full acre. Therefore this subdivision will not fit into the surrounding area...

Dear editor: I wish to express my utter disappointment, loss of confidence in elected officials, and yes, anger at our Board of County Commissioners concerning approval of the Clear Springs Subdivision. I'm not the only one feeling this way. About 200 families in this area who petitioned against it and the many people who testified against it are also incredulous about its approval, reversing the Elmore County Planning and Zoning's unanimous vote to disapprove...

Dear editor: I visited recently with Mollie Marsh. She was sharing her passion with me about Mountain Home, kids, and a dream that was given "wings to fly" when the citizens voted in the Western Elmore County Recreation District (WECRD) in November 2000...

Dear editor: Living in Mountain Home during our youth, it has been difficult to find activities to keep us busy. Many of the fun activities lead to causing more trouble than fun. We watched our friends and peers start obnoxious habits at a young age, or become couch potatoes, or just hang out with nothing to do...

Dear editor: New ideas needed! I believe it's time to make a change. Sometimes when you are in a position to long you are not able to look outside of the box. We need to elect Leanna Whitney to the WECRD to look outside the box. I've been attending the WECRD meetings and believe our tax dollars are going to be spent foolishly if we sit around and wait...

Dear editor: We would like to express our support of Mollie Marsh for re-election to the WECRD Board of Directors. Over the last seven years, Mollie has worked hard to make the Mountain Home Community Center Complex a reality. Construction for Stage I of this complex will begin next year and it will open, completely debt free, in 2010...

Dear editor: I have just finished reading Alan Bermensolo's letter regarding the WECRD, which appeared in your Sept. 24 issue. I found the letter to be interesting, thought provoking, and, in my mind, by far the most accurate words I have seen written about WECRD...

Dear editor: I was appointed to the Blue Ribbon Committee as a representative of the retired and elderly segment of our community. This committee, with the help of a consultant and a myriad of volunteers, conducted various forms of information gathering including, questionnaires, informational materials and open meetings. The findings were formulated into a plan for a family orientated facility with an Aquatic Center as the top priority....

Dear editor: This letter is to the WECRD board! As I was reading the letters to the editor, I noticed one letter that caught my eye. It was Alan Bermensolo's letter. Alan couldn't have stated his views any better. Alan, well written letter! Why doesn't the WECRD board have any true costs and hard figures for the people of Mountain Home? As Alan said, "It's been seven years."...

Dear editor: One headline in your Sept. 10 edition read "Whitney will run for the WECRD board to 'open the process'.'' She plans to run against Mollie Marsh for one of the three seats on the Western Elmore County Recreation Board. She explains her challenge to the incumbent by saying that "to make an omelet you have to crack a few eggs.'' Too trite and too late. ...

Dear editor: This year the voters of the WECRD have a choice of candidates to chose from for director for the first time since the inception of the WECRD. The past board has had over eight years to come up with a viable workable plan for a recreation facility and still has no business plan or operating budget. They are relying on outside interests to develop their business plan and operating budget...

Dear editor: Friday night Sept. 26, was a night to remember. Our Mountain Home Tigers varsity football team defeated Columbia High School from Nampa in an epic battle. Columbia seemed to dominate us from the start with their running game. However, they never quite put it out of reach for the mighty Tigers. With less than ten seconds left in the game we scored. With a "0" clock we scored two extra points to tie the game at 21 all...

Dear editor: Last week we mourned the death of two wonderful men in our community. Both of them practiced work ethics that have long gone out of style. They were both dedicated to the success of their families, not only of theirs but of many families out there that needed their help or encouragement...

Dear editor: Please encourage all of your readers to vote " YES " for the formation of a permanent pest (mosquito) abatement district at the general election on Nov. 4. Have you and others noticed the decrease of mosquitoes and the cases of the deadly infection with "West Nile Virus" in Elmore?...

Less than five months ago John McCain was declaring that there was no room for negative campaigning, that the inability to tell people why you should vote for someone, and instead why you should vote against someone, represented a failure of policy...

Following a four-month deployment to the Pacific, approximately 300 pilots, weapons system officers, aircraft maintenance specialists and support personnel returned to Mountain Home AFB Monday evening. Elements of the 389th Fighter Squadron, 366th Maintenance Group, 366th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, 366th Component Maintenance Squadron, 366th Equipment Maintenance Squadron and the 366th Maintenance Operations Squadron deployed to Andersen AFB, Guam, in late May 2008 as part of a scheduled rotation of Air Force units into the region.. ...

The Mountain Home Volunteer Fire Department will hold its annual Fire Prevention Open House on Oct. 9 from 5:30-8:15 at the fire station behind Paul's Market. Sparky the Fire Dog and Smokey the Bear will be on hand for the little ones, and children will be given rides throughout the evening on the fire trucks...

Absentee ballots for the November elections are now available from the Elmore County Clerk's office. Written requests received at the clerk's office for absentee ballots are being mailed out now. Voters cannot request an absentee ballot over the phone. ...

The Elmore County Planning and Zoning Commission will hold a series of four public hearings regarding AEHI's request to rezone the land approximately six miles west of Hammett, the first one beginning tonight (Wednesday)...

The county commissioners last week agreed to award the new ambulance services contract to Elmore Medical Center. Monday, the commissioners temporarily extended the contract of the current ambulance service provider, Northwest Paramedics Associates, Inc. (NPA), an additional six months, through March 31, 2009, while the county and hospital begin working on the transition to the new provider...